Coventry fostering families have a Big Day Out

Hundreds of the Council’s fostering families and staff joined up for a packed day of fun for all the family at the University of Warwick.

Foster families enjoy a day out

Coventry Foster Carers' Association worked together with the University of Warwick and the Council and others to provide fostering families with a day packed full of family events.

Extreme inflatable assault courses, bouncy castles, table tennis and a family Zumba session started the day off, followed by a barbecue, Freeman Dance flash mob and a fire engine for the children to climb on and learn about being a firefighter.

Coventry Libraries and IGGY also provided stalls and Warwick’s Centre for Lifelong Learning gave everyone the opportunity to blow big bubbles. A blank canvas grew into a ‘Smile Wall’, which by the end of the day had become a fantastic piece of colourful art work, covered in smiles drawn by the children.

Katie, aged six, said: "Making the big bubbles was the best". Whilst seven-year-old Alfie, added: "It was nice to meet lots of other children," and described the extreme inflatable course as "epic!"

A free draw with prizes kindly donated to the day was run every hour and fostering families walked away with; a family meal for four at The Village Hotel, Warwick Arts Centre cinema tickets, a child's climbing party and a block of 12 swimming lessons donated by Coventry Sports Foundation and family tickets to see the pantomime at The Belgrade. Coventry City Football Club, The Blaze Ice Hockey Team and Jaguar Land Rover also donated to the day so that every child attending had a very well-stocked goody bag to take home.

Coventry Foster Carers' Association are planning more events throughout 2016 and would love to hear from any organisation who would be interested in helping support Coventry fostering families.

Pauline, Coventry Foster Carers' Association Secretary, said: "The day was a huge success and we would like to thank everyone who donated a prize or helped in the planning and delivery of the day. We’d particularly like to thank Warwick University and Warwick Conferences for their dedication and hard work in ensuring that some of Coventry’s most vulnerable children and their fostering families had a such a memorable, brilliant day."

The Council urgently needs more people to join the fostering community and is continuing a recruitment campaign throughout 2016, inviting more people to consider fostering and to get in touch with the team to find out more.

A number of ‘meet the fostering team’ information events are being held across the city including on Saturday (7 May) from 10am- 12noon at Centre AT7, Bell Green Road, CV6 7GP and Wednesday 25 May, from 7pm-9pm at Alan Higgs Centre, Allard Way, CV3 1HW.